Breast Cancer Travel Insurance

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the UK, with over 45,000 people being diagnosed every year. No matter how common breast cancer is when you are diagnosed it is a complete shock and turns your world upside down. The treatment can be gruelling and many people plan a holiday during a break in treatment or at the end of treatment, however this can be problematic due to the difficulty in finding breast cancer travel insurance at an affordable premium.

Insurancewith breast cancer travel insurance was devised by Fiona Macrae who has had personal experience of breast cancer; you can read her story here. Our cancer travel insurance policy covers all the standard things like:

Lost baggage

Delayed flights

Legal expenses

Personal accident cover

Missed departure

It can be confusing trying to understand insurance policies and making sure they are suitable for your needs. We offer a specialist cancer travel insurance policy for you and your family that is easy to understand.

You can discuss your breast cancer diagnosis and treatment with one of our trained medical screening advisers who offer confidential friendly advice about our policy, they will also explain to you all the important policy conditions before you purchase.

Our advisers specifically assess your condition using Protectif, which enables us to offer you an affordable tailor-made travel insurance for cancer, even if you have recently been diagnosed with breast cancer, had chemotherapy, radiotherapy or biological therapy or had surgery in the last few months including:

Wide local excision

Conservative surgery

Secondary cancer

Metastatic or terminal cancer

Charities

Insurancewith also support breast cancer charities The Haven, Pink Ladies and Fighting All Cancers Together (FACT) by donating £1 for every policy sold to one of our charities. The support of a charity can be invaluable when going through breast cancer, and in our small way we want to help these charities continue to carry on their valuable work. Get a free quote online, if you are unsure of your requirements or need advice please contact us or call 02038 293 875 where a member of our team will be waiting to help.

Breast Cancer Info

Insurancewith travel insurance with cancer cover offer policies for Europe as well as Worldwide both single and multi trip, as well as specific cruise travel insurance, winter sport cover and we also have long stay or backpacker travel insurance for those wishing to go on an extended holiday.

Breast cancer and treatment:

Our travel insurance for medical conditions policy is designed with the customer in mind, therefore the policy also has a 24 hour emergency assistance company, which is Doctor led. So should you need treatment whilst abroad they can:

Liaise with your treating doctors in the UK

Authorise your treatment abroad

Give medical and practical advice

Arrange alternative flights for you and your family when you are fit to return home

Travelling after breast cancer

Once you’ve had all your treatment for breast cancer, you may still find that you struggle to obtain travel insurance at a reasonable cost. Many travel insurance providers ask that you are at least 5 years or more into remission before they will even consider covering you.

At Insurancewith we are different you don’t need to be in remission before we will consider covering you we will offer cover at most stages of your treatment. And if you have recovered, and are in remission from breast cancer and have had no treatment in the last 2 years other than long term prescription medication, then we will cover you including cover for breast cancer at no additional premium.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the breast

Fewer than 1 in 100 breast cancers (1%) are adenoid cystic carcinomas, this is also known as or referred to as a cribriform cancer. This type of tumour tends to be slow growing.

Surgery is usually recommended to treat adenoid cystic breast cancers, and most women don’t need to have a mastectomy. The general surgery for this type of breast cancer is a lumpectomy. Adenoid cystic carcinoma of the breast rarely spreads elsewhere in the body, therefore the lymph nodes are not usually removed.Statistically the risk of this type of tumour coming back is low.

Angiosarcoma of the breast

Angiosarcoma is a type of breast sarcoma; a sarcoma is a cancer that develops from the structural, supporting tissues of the body, such as connective tissue, bone, blood vessel or nerve tissue. Less than 1 in 100 breast cancers are sarcomas. Angiosarcoma is also sometimes called haemangiosarcoma; it starts in the cells that line the blood or lymphatic vessels. These cancers are more common in women in their 30s and 40s who have not yet had their menopause. The lump is usually at least 4 cm in size, and the skin over it may turn a bluish colour. The causes are not known however one possible cause in older women is chronic lymphoedema , which can develop if lymph nodes have been removed during breast cancer treatment or following a mastectomy and previous radiotherapy to the area.

Basal type breast cancer

Basal type breast cancer was first identified in 2003. The breast cancer cells have particular genetic changes. Basal type breast cancers are often triple negative, which means that they don’t have many receptors for oestrogen, progesterone, or Her2. So, hormonal therapies and don’t work for most basal type cancer cells, therefore other treatments are used instead.

Inflammatory breast cancer

In inflammatory breast cancer, the cancer cells do not generally grow as a lump that can be felt in the breast. They grow along and block the tiny channels (lymph vessels) in the skin of the breast.

The body reacts to the cancer cells in the lymph vessels and the breast becomes inflamed and swollen (which is how the condition gets its name). Lymph vessels are part of the lymphatic system, which drain fluid from tissues and collect and filter out bacteria and any waste materials from the body’s cells.

Usually a combination of treatments is used for inflammatory breast cancer, and these may include:

Chemotherapy

Surgery for cancer

Radiotherapy

Biological therapy

Hormonal therapy

Usually with breast cancer, surgery is the first treatment, however with inflammatory breast cancer; chemotherapy is given first, known as neo-adjuvant treatment.

Lobular breast cancer

There are two types of lobular breast cancer

Lobular cancer in situ (LCIS) means that there are cell changes inside the breast lobes. This is not cancer; however having LCIS means that there is an increased risk of getting breast cancer in the future. Even so, most women with LCIS will not get breast cancer.

The other type of lobular breast cancer is called invasive lobular breast cancer, and this is different to LCIS.

About 10% of breast cancers diagnosed are invasive lobular carcinoma, which means that the cancer started in the cells that line the lobules of the breast and has spread beyond the lobules into the surrounding breast tissue. Invasive lobular cancer is most common in women between 45 and 55 years old, it is possible for men to get invasive lobular breast cancer, but this is very rare.

The treatment for invasive lobular cancer is usually surgery possibly followed by radiotherapy chemotherapy, biological therapy or a combination of treatments.Hormone therapy after surgery is offered if the cancer cells are oestrogen receptor positive

Lumpectomy

A lumpectomy is when the surgeon just removes the cancerous lump and some breast tissue, the surgeon will just take away the cancer and a border of healthy tissue all around it, and they leave behind as much healthy breast tissue as possible. The tissue that is removed is sent to a pathologist for examination, the pathologist checks for cancer cells in the border around the lump. If that border does not contain cancer cells, the report will say there is a healthy margin or clear margin. It is very important to have clear margins with any surgery to remove a cancer, it means that there is a reasonable chance that all the cancer cells have been taken away, so the risk of the cancer coming back in the future is lower.

More surgery may be needed after a lumpectomy if there was no clear margin of tissue around the lump or area of cancer.

A lumpectomy is sometimes referred to as a wide local excision.

After any of these operations radiotherapy is generally prescribed to kill off any breast cancer cells that may have been left behind in the rest of the breast tissue.

Lymphoma of the breast

Lymphomas of the breast contain both lymphoid tissue and breast tissue. People diagnosed with lymphoma of the breast will have further tests to check for lymphoma elsewhere in the body. The treatment for lymphoma of the breast is usually surgery to remove the lump, then chemotherapy possibly followed by radiotherapy.

Mastectomy

A mastectomy is the removal of the whole breast, and is the most suitable treatment if you have.

A large lump, particularly in a small breast

A lump in the middle of your breast

More than one area of cancer in your breast

Areas of ductal carcinoma in situ in the rest of the breast

There are different types of mastectomy

A mastectomy removes the breast tissue (including the skin and the nipple) and the tissues that cover the chest muscles

A skin saving mastectomy removes breast tissue, but the skin remains to reconstruct the breast. This is only possible if the surgeon is confident that the cancer is not near the skin and there is going to be an immediate reconstruction

A radical mastectomy also removes the muscles of the chest wall

Medullary Breast Cancer

Medullary breast cancer is a rare type of breast cancer, accounting for approximately 5% of all breast cancers. It is an invasive cancer which means it has the potential to spread to surrounding breast tissue and to other parts of the body. It is more common in women who inherit a faulty copy of the BRCA 1 gene.

The treatment given for medullary breast cancer is surgery chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy and targeted therapy .Targeted therapy is usually prescribed after and chemotherapy treatment

Metaplastic breast cancer

This type of breast cancer is a mixture of two cell types. The cells have started out as one cell type, such as an adenocarcinoma, which is a type of cancer that starts in glandular tissue of the breast, and then some of them have changed into another type of breast cell.

Doctors treat metaplastic cell cancers in the same way as other breast cancers. For example surgery chemotherapy and radiotherapy however metaplastic breast tumours tend not to be sensitive to hormone therapy

Mucinous (mucoid or colloid) breast cancer

Mucinous breast cancer is so called because when it is viewed under a microscope the cancer Cells can be seen to produce mucus. The mucinous breast tumours often have a jellylike appearance and feel; it is also called colloid cancer. Mucinous breast cancer accounts for less than two per cent of all breast cancers and generally has a better prognosis than most other outside the breast ducts or lobes). Studies have shown that with ‘pure’ mucinous breast cancer (when no other type of breast cancer is present) spread to lymph nodes (glands) in the armpit is rare.

For mucinous breast cancer, surgery is usually the first treatment offered a, lumpectomy or wide local excision The Surgeon may also remove some of the lymph nodes, which is called a lymph node sample or remove all of them which is known as a lymph node clearance, this is done in order to find out if the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes. Should cancer be found in the lymph nodes adjuvant treatment may be prescribed. Adjuvant treatments are treatments given in addition tosurgery and can include chemotherapy radiotherapy, hormone therapy and targeted therapies.

Papilary breast cancer

In a papillary carcinoma, the breast cancer cells are in a pattern that looks a bit like the shape of a fern. Papillary tumours tend to affect older women, and can also be non cancerous (benign).

Papillary breast cancer is normally treated with. These cancers tend to be slow growing, and don’t usually affect the lymph glands.

Phyllodes or cytosarcoma phyllodes

Phyllodes is a type of breast sarcoma that can be either cancerous (malignant) or non cancerous (benign). If cancerous, they may spread into the lymph nodes, however this is rare. Phyllodes are usually treated with, radiotherapy. Chemotherapy is rarely used.

Reconstruction

Breast reconstruction is an operation to make a new breast shape after mastectomy, or to improve the breast shape after lumpectomy

The aim of breast reconstruction is to match the remaining natural breast as closely as possible. This can either be done by using an implant, which is put under the skin and muscle that covers the chest, or by using skin, fat (and sometimes muscle) from another part of the body to create a breast shape. A combination of these techniques is sometimes used. The type of reconstruction used is dependent on:

how much of the breast tissue has been removed

how healthy the tissue is at the planned operation site

whether or not radiotherapy has been used to the breast area or chest wall

general health and body build

personal preference

Stage 4 breast cancer

Stage 4 breast cancer is sometimes called metastatic breast cancer or secondary breast cancer, and is usually marked by the disease spreading to multiple areas of the body. At stage 4, breast cancer is no longer considered curable, however if the treatments given are effective, people with stage 4 breast cancer can live for many years after diagnosis.

Tubular breast cancer

Tubular breast cancer is quite rare, accounting for 1-2% per cent of all breast cancers. It is called tubular breast cancer because the cells under the microscope look elongated and tube-like. Tubular breast cancer is an invasive type of cancer, which means it has spread from the ducts in the breast into the surrounding breast tissue. The majority of tubular cancers are found on screening mammograms and cannot be felt, and therefore do not have any symptoms. However it may be noticed as either a change in the feel or appearance of the breast. Tubular breast cancer is much more common in women over 50, however it can occur at any age, and can also occur in men, although this is very rare.

As for most types of breast cancer, surgery will usually be the first treatment. This could be a mastectomy or a wide local excision, sometimes called breast conserving.

It is also important to find out whether the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes and to this end the surgeon removes some of the lymph nodes, which is called a lymph node sample or all of them which is called a lymph node clearance. Should cancer be found in any of the lymph node samples further treatment may be prescribed.

The treatments given in addition to surgery can include chemotherapy, hormone and targeted therapies. The aim of these treatments is to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back either in the same breast or developing a cancer in the opposite breast, or elsewhere in the body.

Two of Britain’s biggest breast cancer charities are merging to join forces against the disease. Both Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Breast Cancer Campaign are looking to launch a new charity in the spring, with the CEO’s of both charities jointly managing the new ‘super-charity’.

Experts are thinking of replacing the permanent dark-ink tattoos that cancer patients receive during radiotherapy with newly-developed ‘invisible tattoos’ which could help restore and improve body confidence.

A study has found that since the actress Angelina Jolie announced that she tested positive for the BRCA1 gene, the number of UK women also being tested for the gene has more than doubled. Jolie’s announcement in May last year left much of the world in shock, and inspired millions when she opted for a […]